Rebecca Little is one of the stalwarts of Kenneth Alan Taylor's famous Nottingham Playhouse pantos. She tells JENNIFER SCOTT how she met her husband on the Playhouse's pantomime set

REBECCA Little knows all about the romance of panto season. The Derby actress – a staple of Kenneth Alan Taylor's productions for 11 years – actually met her husband, sound operator Adam McCready at Nottingham Playhouse four years ago.

"I came here to do a panto and left with an engagement ring." explains 35-year-old Rebecca.

Adam's job takes him all over the country – working on pantos in Aberdeen and West End shows like Carousel with Lesley Garrett.

Rebecca, meanwhile, tends to spend Christmas at the Playhouse where she's a recognisable member of the Kenneth Alan Taylor posse.

She has progressed through such standard roles as principal girls and "a very small" Dick Whittington (she's only five foot) to magical characters like the Slave of the Ring in last year's Aladdin.

So this year, it's nice that Adam has found work down the road from Rebecca at Nottingham Theatre Royal's panto, starring Nigel Havers.

"It's a real luxury for us to be living and working so close together," smiles Rebecca. "And we get different days off so we should be able to go and watch each other's pantomimes."

Rebecca loves the fact that, come Christmas, Nottingham transforms into "panto city".

"Isn't it fantastic that Nottingham can support two pantomimes?" she says. "They're completely different but there's an audience for both."

The story for this year's Playhouse panto is suitably romantic – a bustling-frocked production of Beauty and the Beast.

Rebecca plays one of Beauty – or Belle's – two sisters, named Florence.

"I have a sort of double act going with Alex, who plays the other sister," she explains.

Alex, it turns out, is six foot tall and the sisters' height difference accounts for much of the visual comedy.

The sisters aren't "ugly" (unlike Cinderella's) but they are, in Rebecca's words, vain, selfish, spoiled... and Northern.

"The panto is set in France and one of the characters has an 'Allo 'Allo accent, but the rest of us speak in Northern accents – because we're in 'Northern France'."

Despite having a sprightly, youthful appearance, Rebecca says she feels like one of the oldies on the panto cast this year – as she and co-star John Elkington are the two longest-serving stars in the ensemble.

Of course, their familiarity means they're liable to lapse into hilarious ad-libs at any given moment – one of the joys of the Playhouse panto.

"Kenneth's quite happy for us to improvise," says Rebecca. "But there are a few moments we're not allowed to mess about with – like the lovely storytelling parts where you don't want to spoil the mood."

Rebecca's feeling of advancing years is probably not helped by the fact she's sticking around at the Playhouse post-panto to star in a production called Forever Young.

It's an adaptation of a German play which has been based on the idea of the Playhouse's own panto regulars, such as Rebecca and John, being old and in a nursing home.

"I'm playing myself 50 years on," explains Rebecca. "I'm basing it on the memories of my Grandma Flo – I think we all turn into our mothers and grandmothers."

Rebecca also has her own production company with her sister Vicky, named Little Pixie, so with such a busy life, what brings her back to the Playhouse every year?

"The production values here are very high," she says. "They invest a lot of money in the set and the costumes. Everything is designed for the actor – whereas in the commercial world, a lot of things are passed on. I feel very lucky."

Beauty and the Beast runs at Nottingham Playhouse until January 23. For tickets, from £21, call 0115 941 9419.